


Adachi's Christmas Visit

by Drowned_Ophelia



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-16
Updated: 2016-12-16
Packaged: 2018-09-08 21:21:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8862559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drowned_Ophelia/pseuds/Drowned_Ophelia
Summary: Adachi's been in jail for a year and holidays are coming up. Three people are determined to not let him spend it in misery all alone.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written as gift for a friend!

The sad truth was that last year was one of the better Christmases Adachi had. Shortly before the holidays those kids had reached him in Magatsu Inaba, beat the shit out of him (that last punch from Yosuke had been so unnecessary), and then possessed by Ameno-sagiri. He was conscious leaving the TV World, but once the adrenaline wore off, he was out like a light, sleeping through Christmas Eve and Christmas day.

That was fine by him. He’d rarely had a girl spend Christmas Eve with and especially Christmas day was filled with all sorts of bad memories of disappointments. He never got toys or anything that he was excited about. It was always books on how to improve his study habits or on a subject he was weakest at. Never a junior magic kit or even a manga like he‘d asked for. Oh no. It had to be something “practical” or “useful” to his future.

He could still hear his parents’ voices loud an clear starting from when he was just a little boy as he stared up at the ceiling from his tatami mat in his cell.

_“Look, Tohru! We can use these flashcards every night until you have your timetables memorized! Won‘t that be fun?”_

_“What a lucky boy! An entire set of encyclopedias for you to read!”_

_“You want to spend the money your grandmother sent you on an action figure? We raised you to have more sense than that. What a waste!”_

Adachi let out a frustrated groan as he tried to quiet the voices. Even though his parents were a bit older when they’d had him it still seemed strange they’d appeared to have completely forgotten what it was like to be a kid. All that focus on his studies and being successful… Look where it got him.

Here in prison he got to overhear the various staff discuss their Christmas plans with their co-workers. Some were having a small Christmas with their spouse and children. Others were traveling to a loved one’s home to be with as much of their family as possible.

A few were fretting because their kid wanted a toy that was so popular it sold in minutes at the stores and could only be found at five times its normal price on the internet.

Boo hoo, their lives were so tough. All Adachi had to look forward to was no risk of getting roughed up while questioned for two days straight. His body had spots that looked like a Rorschach Test from all the bruises.

This was awful. The very first Christmas in ages he hadn’t been able to muffle those ever festering feelings of hatred and resentment with alcohol. Usually by the time December 26th rolled around Adachi would be passed out on the living room floor with as many beer cans as it took to knock him out scattered around close by.

There was nothing to keep his mind occupied here. It was so dull. So boring. What was Sho doing now? Adachi wouldn’t object to being kidnapped again until the day was over. That was such bullshit… Without Adachi to save the day they all would been screwed. Did he get any form of compensation for his surprising act of heroism? No! He doubted if Yu even told anyone about it that they believed him.

Dammit… No… Thinking about him now was the absolute worst now. Why he was probably-

“Adachi!” a guard’s gruff voice broke his thoughts.

Adachi looked up and tried to repress his smile at seeing a man older than him look into his cell irritably. It was a pleasant sight to see someone else looking so miserable to be stuck here. Adachi and his fellow inmates couldn’t very well be left alone, even on the holidays, so of course there had to be people there to keep watch over them.

“You’ve got visitors.”

Plural? Dojima had been the only person who’d bothered to come see him. He’d had to of heard the guard wrong. Still, how nice of his former boss to drop in on a holiday. No matter how sarcastic and rude Adachi had been at first, despite his deep feelings of admiration for Dojima, he couldn’t push him away. A Christmas visit was still highly unexpected.

As he entered the visitation room and walked towards the chair Adachi’s jaw dropped in surprise. It really wasn’t just Dojima waiting for him on the other side of the glass; Nanako was there too with a big smile once she saw him.

Adachi felt a stab of guilt in his heart. He couldn’t deny the chain of events he started wound up with Nanako in critical condition at the hospital. Neither she or Dojima would ever know; that made it even harder for Adachi to take a seat in front of him. Although it was only in a small way he still felt as though he was continuing to dupe them.

He wasn’t able to speak at first, it was hard enough holding eye contact. Their looks of joy to see him weren’t phony or put on at all. It made no sense to him.

“Adachi-san!” Nanako spoke up first. “I’m glad dad let me come with! I missed you!”

“Y-you have…?” Adachi is stunned that he made such an impression on the young girl that she even remembered his name after all this time. Although… There was no way she’d been told about what he’d done or just why he’d been arrested.

Nanako nodded. “It was always a lot of fun whenever you came over!”

Adachi was a sucker for positive attention, even if it came from someone so much younger than him. Nanako was always so thrilled to see any of his magic tricks he’d constantly show off for her and it also helped that she was the only kid that didn’t annoy him.

“How long do you have to stay here?” She asked. “No one will tell me…”

“Nanako,” Dojima scolded gently; he’d told her not talk about anything like that while they were here.

“It’s alright,” Adachi replied. So she really was completely in the dark; he couldn’t blame her for being curious. “Well… Let’s just say I’m going to be on ‘Time Out’ for awhile. I did something pretty bad and I have to pay for it. The problem is no one is quite sure yet for exactly how long.”

“Do you promise we can all have dinner together again when you can leave?”

Adachi couldn’t help smiling. “Sure.” He wasn’t lying, either. Although it would most likely be years from now when it happened, if the invitation was still there, he’d love nothing more than to experience eating a meal in the only household that felt like home to him. “Hm?” he was surprised when the door behind them suddenly opened again.

The smile Adachi had immediately turned into a menacing scowl, his eyes narrowing to nearly slits when the young man he kept being certain he’d never seen again entered the room.

“I’m sorry!” Yu said as he rushed over. “I lost my glove; I didn’t realize it would take me so long to find it!” He’d intended to be the room with his uncle and cousin before Adachi joined them.

“Adachi-san, why are you making such a scary face?” Nanako asked. She’d never seen him with anything other than a jovial or an apologetic expression.

“Ah!” Adachi adopted his usual façade at once, however he was unable to regain the nearly angelic smile he’d warn before. “Sorry about that.” He couldn’t hide the hint of resentment in voice the next time he spoke. “Yu-kun! Surely you have better things to do than come see me?”

“Don’t be like that.” Dojima was worried about how this would go. He had no idea that Yu and Adachi had seen each other after his apprehension. Yu had seemed confident Adachi would be OK with him tagging along, and he trusted that, but now he was already regretting his decision. He wanted to try and bring Adachi a little Christmas cheer, not upset all four of them.  
Yu wasn’t going to tell Adachi there was going to be a delayed Christmas celebration with his friends later this month. Naoto and Rise were so busy it was a miracle they could even make something work in December.

“It’s been awhile,” Yu replied.  
  
Oh, not long enough, as far as Adachi was concerned.

“I suppose…” Adachi replied coldly. “Nanako, what are you learning in school now?” He’d just stay focused on the people who mattered and try to ignore Yu.

Nanako was more than happy to talk, Adachi gladly listening. It was good to hear that Dojima wasn’t working as much and she had a lot to share about the two of them spending time together. What shocked Adachi was hearing about how she, Yu, and the rest of their friends had wound up on television together in big idol event. He was so cut off here from the rest of the world he had no idea. He was going to ask why Dojima hadn’t mentioned it but held his tongue when he saw the weary looking on his face. It must have been much more trouble than it was worth.

“Can you dance, Adachi-san?” Nanako asked.

“Better than you might think,” Adachi boasted. In his mind he was quite skilled, although the reality was he’d be laughed at by most people.

“I wish I could see!”

“Me too,” Yu agreed.

“That would be something…” Dojima couldn’t help wondering if Adachi was just fibbing for Nanako’s amusement.

Their visit carried on for as long as could be allowed. It was as if Adachi had blinked and several hours had passed. He would never admit that he actually had fun.

All three wished Adachi a “Merry Christmas” as they prepared to leave.

“Merry Christmas,” Adachi responded. “Dojima-san, Nanako-chan… Yu,” he purposely added like he was an afterthought. He stayed put to watch them leave, wanting to stay with them as long as possible. Yu lingering to speak with him privately, however, was an unexpected displeasure. “Now what do you want?”

“I want you to know that I’ve been trying to get Mitsuru-san to reduce your sentence,” Yu answered. “That’s why I wanted to come. I didn’t mean to ruin Christmas for you.”

Adachi laughed harshly. “I’m in jail! It was already ruined before I had to look at you. So what did she have to say?” He completely hid just how eager he was to hear the answer.

“She appreciates what you did during the Ultimax Tournament, but…” Yu looked at Adachi sorrowfully. He didn’t need to continue; Adachi could guess how a woman like her responded considering his crimes.  
  
“I’ll keep trying.” Determination overtook Yu’s eyes. “You were different the last time I saw you. You deserve to spend some time here, but not for the rest of your life.”

“That’s sweet, kid, but I don’t really care.” Adachi stretched. “Being around you tired me out too much. Run along now.” He leaned in and brought his face close to the glass. “And this time stay the hell away from me. I’m not kidding. This is the last time I ever want to see your face.”

  
  
It wasn’t as if his heart were going to grow three sizes, but Adachi realized he felt grateful for time he got to spend away from his cell with his two favorite people… And he supposed Yu tagging along hadn’t been terrible.

The last time he’d seen Nanako was when he’d tucked her in at the hospital; she’d been unconscious with a breathing mask over her face. Now should he ever think about her that memory would be replaced with her in perfect help and happy.

The surprises didn’t end there. Dojima knew it would have been too embarrassing for Adachi to receive them when they were together, so he had a guard place some gifts they’d brought for Adachi on the table in his cell for when he returned. Thanks to regulations they had to remain unwrapped for inspection (even then some of the items could be considered “iffy“; it was only thanks to Dojima being a well respected detective that they let it slide). Still, that didn’t take away Adachi’s glee to find a comfortable new blanket he could use so he wasn’t freezing at night anymore. The red was also a nice touch to finally bring some color into his cell.

Nanako had drawn a few pictures for him; she’d really improved from what he’d last seen! She was also the reason why he’d been given a coloring book and crayons, according to a note from Dojima that seemed almost apologetic. Adachi actually didn’t mind at all. In fact, he might be inclined to color in a few pages and send them to Nanako as a little “thank you”.

Next he spotted some photos, some of which he had no memory of being taken. He actually looked content in them… For as much as he lied and fooled everyone there had been genuine moments he’d been glad to have taken part in. A laugh escaped his lips to see a picture Yu must have taken where he’d gotten drunk and allowed Nanako to test out the nail polish on him she’d gotten in a gift bag at a birthday party. Of course forgetting and showing up to work with sparkling purple nails had been humiliating at the time… Now even that was a memory he couldn’t help but treasure.

What really made his mouth water was the red velvet cake. Now this was a treat! Surprised he’d even been allowed a plastic knife and fork, Adachi cut himself slice and took the first bite. The sweet taste nearly brought tears to his eyes. It was such a change from the bland food he was used to now.

Then he noticed the card that had dropped to the floor. With the next bite in his mouth he opened it up, quickly spitting it out when he read that Yu had made the cake himself.

_‘I hope you like it!’_

Hell no! Into the trash the rest of it went. Damn brat.

Adachi huffed as he sat back. Yu was that sort of person who didn’t realize the more he tried to “help” or “improve” his life the more irritating he got. Getting his hopes up like that for a brief moment that Kirijo chick would pull some strings and get him out of here. Adachi very well knew the reality was he was probably going to die in this place.

He wasn’t even quite thirty yet… A life sentence when he was so young would mean the majority of his life behind bars… Would mean he would be looking at decades of Christmases like this one. Except… How many of them until he would be alone?

He had faith Dojima would keep coming to see him even when he was old and gray, mobility permitting. Nanko was another story. No way would she keep thinking about her uncle’s old partner as she grew up, met more people, and would probably move out of Inaba. If Yu dared to try again Adachi would flat out refuse him; he’d never be that desperate.

Now Adachi was resentful. Why did they have to come? If he experienced Christmas all alone then it would only get easier as it kept repeating. Now he had the fond memory of three people doing their very best to brighten his day that would pain him to recall if they didn’t do the same thing next year.

…How could anyone be so cruel?


End file.
